Creative Ageing Cities ─ Place Design With Older People in Asian Cities

Ageing population and urbanization have become global concerns in recent years. Concepts such as ‘ageing-in-place’ and ‘active ageing’ deal with issues of ever-larger elderly population living in the cities, especially in old urban neighbourhoods, while also taking into consideration the evolving lifestyles and well-being of the diverse elderly’s demographics. To continue living in these existing urban neighbourhoods thus requires necessary interventions, both to adapt the changing needs of the ageing population and to improve the deteriorating environment for better liveability.

Creative Ageing Cities discusses the contribution of ageing population as a productive and creative force towards urban design particularly in high-density urban contexts, as observed in a collection of empirical cases found in rapidly ageing Asian cities. The book examines the diverse forms of creative processes and emerging ageing-friendly built environments, and is the first to collect empirical cases from high-density, rapidly ageing Asian cities concerning place-making with and by the elderly.

Keng Hua Chong is Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Architecture and Sustainable Design pillar, SUTD. He is the head of Social Urban Groupe (SURGe), a research lab based in SUTD focusing on social architecture and urban research. He is also the partner of COLOURS: Collectively Ours LLP, a design consultancy specializing in collaborative place-making.

Mihye Cho is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the department of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, SUTD.